At present, no tool is readily available for supporting and positioning a wallboard as it is being installed to a building frame above floor level in a vertical position. It is common practice, therefore, for one construction worker to hold the wallboard in a secure, abutting relationship to an adjacent wallboard as another secures it by nailing it to the structure. The procedure thus employed is inefficient in that one worker could accomplish the entire task of installation, thus freeing the other to perform additional tasks.
With a wallboard vertically in place on the upper portion of a wall of the building frame, a tool commonly referred to as a "kickjack" is used to install a wallboard at floor level tightly against the upper wallboard. The kickjack comprises a lever and fulcrum with a blade at one end of the lever for supporting an edge of the wallboard. The user inserts the blade under the bottom edge of the wallboard and steps on the raised edge of the lever in order to position the lower level wallboard tightly against the upper piece. The present inventor has combined the features of the kickjack with a new tool for positioning and supporting wallboard in a vertical position. Thus, a versatile tool has been developed which may be easily, conveniently, and efficiently used by a single construction worker to install both upper and lower pieces of wallboard.
Still another tool found lacking in the construction field is a device for installing friction-fit insulation, i.e. insulation without foil or paper backing. Handling such insulation can be both uncomfortable and dangerous to the construction worker because of its glass composition. Presently, workers generally wear gloves to handle such materials.
The present inventor has, thus, further incorporated into this combination tool an attachment for converting the wallboard hanger into a tool for applying insulation to a building structure. The attachment comprises a tined device which is easily attachable to the blade of the tool.
The major advantages of the invention are set forth in part herein and in part will be obvious herefrom or may be learned by practice with the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.